Itsudemo Issho ni My Melody ♪

Itsudemo Issho ni My Melody ♪ - unofficially translating to "Together Always With My Melody" - is a mobile app released in 2020 to commemorate My Melody's 45th birthday. The app's main feature is the ability to talk to My Melody, this primarily takes the form of text messages but the user can also recieve pre-recorded messages, for which Rei Sakuma reprises her role. The app continues the My Melody brand's focus on mental health as previously explored through the character's twitter profile and radio show, with the Sanrio website identifying it as a therapy app.

Development
The app was developed by Caerux.Co., Ltd in association with Sanrio. During the production of the app, 300 My Melody fans were surveyed to inform development.

Release and Updates
The app released at 11am on Friday the 17th of January, 2020, the day before My Melody's birthday. At launch it had three main functions: Chat & Talk, Schedule and Alarm, with plans to add more over time. The first of the post-launch additions was the Weather function, released that March.

On January 17, 2021, a year after the original launch, the Memo function was added to the app. As of August 2024, no further updates have been released.

Functions
Itsudemo Issho ni My Melody ♪ has 5 primary functions.

Chat & Talk
Chat & Talk is the main function of the app, allowing users to send texts to My Melody and recieve responses 24 hours a day. In addition to this, the player may sometimes recieve voice messages, which can be played back at any time.

In addition to this, the user may send a selection of stamps to My Melody. While the app launched with 12, the total of stamps available grew to 24 across updates. One of these will trigger a special voice message from My Melody.

There is also a selection of 6 different backgrounds that can be used to personalise the experience.

Schedule
The Schedule function gives the user a calender. This allows users to enter any events they'd like to keep track of. The user will recieve messages from My Melody to remind them of these scheduled events, which will also be recieved as a notification to account for the app being closed. A selection of 10 "schedule seals" is available that can be attached to events, the seal selected will also influence what My Melody says when reminding you about the event.

Above the dates on the calender, each month of the year features different artwork of My Melody, often accompanied by My Sweet Piano and Flat, with one appearance from Rhythm.

Alarm
The Alarm function allows the user to set up to four alarms at any time that will go off at specified times of day. The user can select which days of the week the alarm will go off on, a selection of 6 alarm sounds - all of which are voice messages from My Melody - and a snooze setting. However, alarms will not work if the app is not open.

Weather
The Weather function shows the user the current weather in their location, as well as the temperature and precipitation. It also shows the same information predicted for 5am, 12pm and 6pm the same day. Below this, My Melody advises what kind of clothing should be worn and what protection against the sun is needed based on the weather, with undetailed weather estimations for the next week found beneath. My Melody may also bring up the weather while talking, prompting you to check the forecast.

Memo
The Memo function allows the user to write down and save information. Multiple memos can be created and saved, with potential for customisation by selecting different background designs. Memos can also be locked behind a four number pin, requiring the pin to be re-entered to edit or view the information inside.

The function also introduces a friendship mechanic. Friendship is represented with an empty heart that fills as the percentage on it raises. Friendship begins at 50%, from there every time a locked memo is saved friendship increases by 5%. When the friendship heart reaches 100%, a new background design for usage with memos will be unlocked and the friendship heart will reset to 0%. There are 10 background designs total and 7 of which need to be unlocked.

Other Features
From the menu, the user also has the option to view news related to My Melody, as well as select icons to be navigated to My Melody's character page on the Sanrio website or the official YouTube channel for the My Melody Therapy radio show.